Block-embed dashboards
Dashboards built from real blocks — live, not from copies
- You embed a block and recognise that it is the same block. ·· Success criterion: You change the block in the embed and prove the change at its home.
- You build a dashboard from at least one embed and one query. ·· Success criterion: Your dashboard shows a fixed block plus a list computed live.
- You explain the difference between an embed and a copy, and the visibility risk. ·· Success criterion: You give one example each of safe and of risky embedding.
Block references give every claim an address. An embed goes one step further: it shows the block itself in a second place — the same block, not an image of it. That is how you build a dashboard from real content that never drifts apart, because it copies nothing.
An embed is not a copy
Copy a block and you have two truths that diverge from the next edit on. Embed it and there is still one truth, visible in two places. Change the block in the dashboard and it changes at its home too — and the other way round. That is transclusion: one piece of content, many windows.
{{embed ((6c1b9a2e-7d84-4f12-a3b9-0e5c1d7f2a48))}}
;; zeigt denselben Block — eine Quelle, hier nur ein weiteres Fenster5 rules for block-embed dashboards
- An embed is the block itself, not a snapshot — there is no second version to go stale.
- Edits sync both ways: the dashboard and the home are one and the same.
- Mix embeds with queries — fixed blocks for what matters, rules for what keeps changing.
- An embed shows the block's children too; choose the granularity deliberately.
- Never delete the source block to remove an embed — remove only the embed, the block stays at home.
A dashboard from embeds and a query
## Sprint-Dashboard
{{embed ((a8e2d710-4f3b-4c1a-9e2d-5b7c8a1f0e63))}} ;; Sprint-Ziel, lebt im Planungs-Doc
{{query (and (property "type" "task")
(property "sprint" "aktuell"))}} ;; offene Aufgaben, liveBefore and after — copy dashboard vs embed dashboard
| Property | Copy dashboard | Embed dashboard |
|---|---|---|
| Content | copies | the same blocks |
| Freshness | ages from the moment you paste | always live |
| Editing | local only, drifts | in sync, both ways |
| Source of truth | unclear (two states) | the block itself |
| Upkeep | chase it by hand | none |
An honest question
How many of your dashboards show copied states that were already stale the moment they were pasted? The answer decides whether a dashboard shows you the truth or just a photo of yesterday.
- Build a small sprint dashboard from exactly one embed and one query. Embed a fixed block that lives elsewhere — a sprint goal, say — and add a query for what keeps changing, such as the open tasks. Then change the embedded block in the dashboard and check at its home that the change stands there too.⏱ 5 min
💡 Address the source block via its block reference and copy the ((id)) first — then you only paste {{embed ((id))}} in the dashboard, instead of retyping the content.
Model answer: The dashboard carries a {{embed ((id))}} of the sprint goal at the top, with a query for the open tasks of the current sprint below. Change the goal in the dashboard and the same change stands in the planning doc, because it is the same block and not a copy. Before sharing, check that no embedded block is confidential — an embed binds visibility.
What happens when you change an embedded block in the dashboard?
One block, right everywhere.
Build your dashboard from real blocks, not from copies — your second brain keeps every view current, because it never duplicates a thing. A partner that tends one truth, not a wall of stills.
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